Software titan Microsoft yesterday confirmed a long-suspected suspicion: it intends to revolutionise the telecoms industry.

Microsoft pulled back the covers on the latest iteration of its Office Communications suite – software which provides a unified interface for email, instant messaging and, most importantly, voice calls and video messaging.

The announcement potentially has two profound consequences. Firstly, Microsoft anticipates that telephony will be a massive-growth business for it: As the market for its core Office software matures, the company has been seeking new growth engines; unified communications could be just the ticket.

Secondly, its gate-crashing presence will likely disrupt the rest of the market. Heavyweight rivals, such as Cisco, have been expected Microsoft’s entry into telephony for some time – Cisco’s $3.2 billion acquisition of web conferencing vendor WebEx pits it squarely against Microsoft’s new offering. Nevertheless, smaller players in the communications industry face a far more competitive future.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates promised that customers would be able to make huge savings by adopting its unified communications software. “In the next decade, sweeping technology innovations driven by the power of software will transform communications. We’re making rapid advances that will enable fundamental advances in the way people communicate and collaborate at work.”

The Microsoft software spells the end for telephone numbers, predicted its business division president, Jeff Raikes. People want to contact other people, not a number he added: the software can control the mechanism for enabling that communication, whether that be phone, email, instant message or video.

Microsoft revealed partnerships with 15 phone and mobile device manufacturers to ensure customers had choice in how they communicate. It also promised in future its Office Communication software would integrate directly with enterprise applications from SAP.

Further reading

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